The speaker talks to the “Old World” as if it were a cruel abuser that has spent fifty years beating him down, stealing the little he had, and enjoying his hunger and pain. He knows his oppressor sees him as still strong enough to suffer for twenty more years, then expects him to become weak, broken, and begging to live. Instead, he refuses to give that satisfaction. He holds those twenty remaining years in front of the Old World’s greedy eyes, then takes them away by ending his own life. The final “Ha! Ha! Bang--!” is both a laugh of triumph and a gunshot. The mood is bitter and darkly victorious: the speaker turns suicide into one last act of power and escape.
The Suicide — Summary
For fifty years, Cruel, insatiable Old World, You have punched me over the heart Till you made me cough blood. The few paltry things I gathered You snatched out of my hands. You have knocked the cup from my thirsty lips. You have laughed at my hunger of body and soul. You look at me now and think, "He is still strong, There ought to be twenty more years of good punching there. At the end of that time he will be old and broken, Not able to strike back, But cringing and crying for leave To live a little longer." Those twenty, pitiful, extra years Would please you more than the fifty past, Would they not, Old World? Well, I hold them up before your greedy eyes, And snatch them away as I laugh in your face, Ha! Ha! Bang--!